What a week for diplomacy. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is out. The new secretary, Mike Pompeo, is (almost) in. At the same time, there’s chaos globally: The UK has expelled 23 Russian diplomats, a possible trade war with China is on the horizon, a high-stakes summit with North Korea is scheduled for May, and […]

This past week, the world was shocked anew by images coming out of the Syrian city of Aleppo. Images streamed across screens of children and families, huddling underground trying to avoid the latest campaign of bombing by the Assad regime. Looking back, I think there are two major mistakes that, if corrected, could have made […]

As we take a collective deep breath and review the outcome of this long and unfortunately ugly presidential campaign, there are more questions than answers for the U.S. body politic domestically. But one thing is clear: our new President will face a very full inbox over the coming months. Given his lack of experience in […]

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of sitting down with President Obama, alongside an array of impressive characters with widely divergent backgrounds and political affiliations. But we all agreed on one thing: the value of free trade globally and, therefore, the need for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Whether or not Congress passes TPP […]

This past week, Turkey once again raised the issue of creating a “buffer zone” inside Syria to protect its own borders and create a safer space for those fleeing the war-torn country. In my opinion, President Erdogan is showing his military strength as he moves across the border, both to demonstrate his aggressive stance against […]

It seems that every week Russia is in the news. This week, in an unprecedented move, Iran allowed Russia to use one of its bases to launch air strikes in Syria. This is shocking in a geopolitical sense. As I see it, Iran is siding with Vladimir Putin because it sees Russia as the best […]

Two weekends ago, we experienced the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, perpetrated by a homegrown terrorist pledging allegiance to ISIS. This one struck a personal note for me, as I’ve been fortunate to call Florida home on more than one occasion, and reminds us all that this scale of tragedy could happen again.

Dean James Stavridis is the 12th leader of The Fletcher School since its founding in 1933. A retired Admiral in the U.S. Navy, he led the NATO Alliance in global operations from 2009 to 2013 as Supreme Allied Commander.